What might be a good strategy to remove the stock XP-G LED on the DQG Ti AAA driver? I want to install a 219b. Please see this album:
I’m debating options:
- hot air from the LED side, but not sure how to keep the components on the bottom of the board from falling off… I do have some Kapton like tape, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W3FAFP0/ but it has almost no adhesive and does not stay in place.
Im wondering if “real” Kapton tape would stick better? Ive never tried it.
- Im debating using a soldering iron to heat the positive contact disc on the bottom of the driver, below the LED… same concerns about components falling off. I expect the positive contact disc would be the first thing to get desoldered.
brainstorming and suggestions welcome…
To quote myself from a reddit post from a few years back (I just nuked the album in imgur recently, oops!), I modded a DQG AA (not AAA) with a Nichia 219C:
“So, using the very fine tip of my soldering iron I reflowed that son of a bitch in place (yes without removing the single-piece driver/LED board or the retaining collar) using my $17 Amazon iron set to what it claims is 450C (840F) by just heating the exposed nubs on the positive and negative solder pad that stick past the LED package. The middle thermal pad came off the driver board but without any apparent ill effects.”
Some LEDs can be heated from the side in this manner, too.